Friday Morning News

If you add new features, they will come… and install iOS 8.4 on their devices. That’s the vibe I’m getting from Apple’s latest iOS install base statistics, which say iOS 8.4 is already installed on over 40% of active iOS devices out in the wild. The high adoption rate can be largely attributed to the launch of Apple Music — with iOS 8.4 the only way to access the service on iPhones and iPads, people wanting to give the service a go really had no other choice.

A day after the release of iOS 9 beta 3, Apple has started up the iOS 9 public beta program. Ars Technica has a summary of the changes in iOS 9, also providing a little guidance about installing the beta on any device you rely on for day-to-day productivity – while the first beta had terrible battery life, the second and third betas have mostly been fine on my regular iPhone 6, but again, your mileage may vary. Ars Technica also says Apple has released the OS X El Capitan public beta, where the same caveats apply.

If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, you now have access to Office 2016 for Mac. Microsoft has deemed Office 365 subscribers the lucky ones, with the release to everyone being around September. Besides a pretty serious redesign, the suite consisting of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote now has a look and feel that’s designed to be more in line with its Windows counterparts, as well as ensuring the apps work mostly the same, feature-wise.

Apple’s official process for downgrading from watchOS 2.0 is sending in your Apple Watch for service. Restoring to earlier versions just isn’t possible without a little assistance from Apple Support, which only highlights the potentially pitfalls of beta software.

Apple Music will let you choose your streaming quality in iOS 9, according to an option uncovered by AppleInsider. The current implementation of Apple Music gives you higher streaming quality if you’re on Wi-Fi, but the latest iOS 9 beta also lets you choose higher quality if you’ve got data to burn.

Before you buy the Apple Watch, there are a couple of things you should know. The vibe I’m getting from these pieces says the potential is definitely there, but it’s not quite as essential as, say, an iPhone. That doesn’t make it any less nice, though.

Five new videos have been added to Apple’s “Shot on iPhone 6” campaign, all showing off the video capabilities of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus camera.

OK, the article of the week has to go to this piece by Six Colors, who investigate what they’re calling the “Taylor Swift strategy“. No spoilers, you’ll just have to see for yourself how awesome it is.